turkish tughra - arabic calligraphy - shumen mosque (bulgaria)

turkish tughra - arabic calligraphy - shumen mosque (bulgaria)

That is the seal of Ottoman Empires.­ It is neither completely Arabic, nor Persian, It is a combined language called "Osmanlica" in Turkiye, meaning something like Ottomanic.­

This tughra must be Selim III's.­ The mosque in Shumen it is on was built in 1740-1744, and the only Ottoman sultan called Selim after that date was Selim III, who ruled from 1789-1807.­ The tughra's got more complicated as the years went on, the first, from the 14th century, were relatively simple.­ Apart from the sultan's name much of the calligraphy is symbolic and not words as such.­ For example, the two lines reaching out to the right are symbols for swords, and thus the military power of the sultan.­